Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge after a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Mass., on July 18, 1969. Kennedy escapes the submerged car, but Mary Jo Kopechne, a former campaign aide to Robert Kennedy, dies.

Two semiconductor pioneers and a pair of venture capitalists found chip maker NM Electronics on July 18, 1968. It soon changes its name to Intel.

Gladys Knight, age 8, appears on the TV show Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour July 15, 1952. She wins the top prize of $2,000 for her performance of Nat King Cole‘s “Too Young.”

Signaling tolerance of homosexuals in the military, President Bill Clinton announces a “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue” policy on July 19, 1993.

J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye is published July 16, 1951; protagonistHolden Caulfield teaches a couple of generations how to be an adolescent.

In a speech delivered July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter laments a “crisis of confidence” in America. Though he doesn’t use the word, it becomes known as the “malaise” speech and dogs him through the next year’s presidential campaign.

Apollo 11 carries the first humans to the moon. After descending to the surface with Buzz Aldrin in the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong takes that “one small step.” (Learn why there are no good photos of Neil Armstrong on the moon here.)